Lachlan Keith Murdoch (/lɒklən/;[1] born 8 September 1971) is an American and Australian businessman and mass media heir.

[9] At the age of 22[6] or 23, Murdoch was appointed general manager of Queensland Newspapers, the publisher of Brisbane's Courier-Mail,[5][6] and at this time became friends with James Packer, also the son of a media mogul.

He and former Brisbane Broncos chief John Ribot signed up leading Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players on documents which were not legally effective.

This venture lost money[13][14][15] Encouraged to invest in One.Tel by his friend Australian businessman James Packer, the son of television network owner Kerry Packer, Murdoch was extensively criticised for encouraging News Corporation's multi-hundred million-dollar investment in the start-up telecommunications company in the late 1990s.

The company later emerged as Australia's market leader in online real estate advertising, known as Realestate.com.au, and in 2014 was assessed as worth more than $3.6 billion to News Corp.[17][5] For the year 2001, Murdoch earned a salary of A$2.59 million.

[18] During his time at News Corp, Murdoch had oversight of HarperCollins and the company's lines of business in Australia, including REA.

[11][22][23][24][25] On leaving News Corp with a two-year non-compete agreement,[26] Murdoch founded an Australian private investment company, Illyria Pty Ltd,[27] in 2005.

[26][28] Packer eventually decided to sell down his stake in media companies in a series of transactions between 2006 and 2008,[29][30] and the deal with Murdoch collapsed.

[26][31] In 2012, Illyria purchased the remaining 50% of the holdings, and within a few years, NOVA Entertainment grew into the leading network of FM stations in Australia.

In an attempt to control costs, Ten had reduced employment numbers by 160 people, and the problems were mainly attributed to falling advertising revenues and restructuring at the network.

On 14 June 2017, Ten went into voluntary administration after Murdoch and fellow shareholder Bruce Gordon declined to extend the company's credit facility.

[57] Murdoch is one of the founding patrons (along with Anthony Pratt, Peter Lowy, and Lisa Fox) of an organisation called "Advance", formerly known as the Young Australian Professionals in America.

In his opinion, Judge Davis denied the request, saying that Dominion had shown enough evidence of actual malice on behalf of Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch of Fox Corporation to allow the case to continue.

[59] Documentation obtained by Dominion showed that Lachlan had played "a hands-on role in determining the political thrust of Fox News in favour of Trump".

[63] Crikey originally removed the article to avoid legal persecution but later republished it, with editor Peter Fray accusing Murdoch of "using the law to silence public debate", and "seeking to intimidate us".

[68][69] In September 2024, the Murdoch family is involved in a court case in Reno, Nevada, in which three of Lachlan's siblings (James, his sister Elisabeth and half-sister Prudence MacLeod) are challenging their father's bid to amend the family trust to ensure that Lachlan retains control of News Corp and Fox Corp, rather than benefiting all of his six children, as is specified in the "irrevocable" terms of the trust.

Chloe and Grace Murdoch, Rupert's children with third wife Wendi Deng, will have no say in the business,[73] although will share the stock proceeds.

[71] According to the Wall Street Journal in September 2024, James had made an attempt at settlement, in a proposal that included the possible sale of his and his sisters' interests in the trust.

[53] He argues that preserving the outlet's conservative editorial stance against interference by the more politically moderate siblings would better protect its commercial value.

[71] Apart from full siblings Elisabeth and James Murdoch, Lachlan has three half-siblings, an elder half-sister Prudence, and two younger sisters by his father's third marriage, Grace and Chloe.

[82][83] In 2017, Murdoch and his wife paid US$29 million for a large equestrian property in Aspen, Colorado, that contains a 1,250-square-metre (13,500 sq ft) six-bedroom home.

His wife and children have lived in Sydney since 2021, and Lachlan splits his time between there, Los Angeles (location of Fox Corp. HQ), and New York City, where News Corp is headquartered.

[87] Although it has been assumed that Lachlan is more conservative than his siblings, it was reported that he did not support Trump's presidency, and kept toilet paper printed with his face in his house during the 2016 campaign.

[88] In February 2023, Lachlan and his wife Sarah Murdoch gave A$1 million to a queer museum in Sydney called Qtopia.

[92] In September 2024, ABC Television (Australia) aired a three-part documentary for their Australian Story program entitled: "Making Lachlan Murdoch".